With the ongoing drumbeat against the Trump administration by the left leaning media and the continuing special council investigations coupled with the rapid turn over of White house staff you have to wonder if the Trump administration will last until 2020. I will say today I think the odds are less then fifty fifty. One of the things that is holding back the Trump administration is the large number of Republicans that came out against Trump (never Trumpers) before the election that Trump will not consider as staff on any level. This has left him with almost no pool of qualified people to take staff positions that both can get a security clearance and are competent to do the job. This weakness may well ultimately bring him down mid term. So what happens next? The constitution says Pence. So my question is: Is Pence aware of how close he is to moving up and dose he have a plan and a list of people to put in place if and when? He can't talk to them now so he can't ask if his preferred candidate would serve. So he needs a wish list plus a plan B and plan C. I wonder who is on those lists ,and I certainly hope he has made those lists. Who knows three thousand people who wont embarrass you two weeks after you give them a job?

Theres no point in imagining how great things will be in a future Pence administration, since the left and the media will go after Pence if he ever becomes the Prez just like they've gone after Trump.

The thing Pence should be doing is going after Mueller. Clinton showed that the way to survive an out of control special prosecutor and an impeachment is to attack attack attack. Pence should be out there right now ridiculing and leading attacks on Mueller, imho.

Plantagenet wrote:Theres no point in imagining how great things will be in a future Pence administration, since the left and the media will go after Pence if he ever becomes the Prez just like they've gone after Trump.

The thing Pence should be doing is going after Mueller. Clinton showed that the way to survive an out of control special prosecutor and an impeachment is to attack attack attack. Pence should be out there right now ridiculing and leading attacks on Mueller, imho.

Cheers!

Pence attacking Mueller would be seen as obstruction of justice and conspiracy with Trump. Better to just bide his time quietly. I don't know as a Pence presidency would be good or bad but it should be more competent then the Trump circus.

Impeached for what exactly? Because Trump makes them feel bad about being Democrats? Try again. You do realize you need 66 votes in the Senate to make an impeachment successful? That is not happening in any election scenario.

Comey et. al. have made any possible charges against Trump immediately suspect as partisan maneuvering.

So tell me what platform are the Democrats running on? Higher taxes and loving illegals more than Americans doesn't seem like much of a plan to me.

Cog wrote:Impeached for what exactly? Because Trump makes them feel bad about being Democrats? Try again. You do realize you need 66 votes in the Senate to make an impeachment successful? That is not happening in any election scenario.

Comey et. al. have made any possible charges against Trump immediately suspect as partisan maneuvering.

So tell me what platform are the Democrats running on? Higher taxes and loving illegals more than Americans doesn't seem like much of a plan to me.

Probably for obstruction of justice and violations of the emoluments clause or money laundering before the campaign. Any excuse will do. I expect the Dems to gain four or five seats in the senate and there are at least fifteen Republicans that hate Trumps guts. A landslide election in 18 will show them the prospects for 2020 are slim if they stay with Trump and they will want to try Pence to see if he can get things straightened out. The Democrats will run on free everything as always and getting rid of lying, bragging, stupid, Trump.

Obstruction for firing a FBI director, who used a fake dossier paid for by Dems to secure a FISA warrant to spy on Trump? Yeah that isn't going to fly. The moment we found out that Comey had signed that FISA warrant application, obstruction was off the table. Trump is divested of ownership in Trump enterprises so emoluments clause won't work either.

Oh and Republicans, Never-Trumpers or not, are not going to vote for impeachment for some made up bullshit. Although Trump's base is not huge, about 30-40% of Republicans, we don't forget betrayal.

You want a real civil war? Impeach Trump on some pretext and find out how quick it goes hot.

Cog wrote:Obstruction for firing a FBI director, who used a fake dossier paid for by Dems to secure a FISA warrant to spy on Trump? Yeah that isn't going to fly. The moment we found out that Comey had signed that FISA warrant application, obstruction was off the table. Trump is divested of ownership in Trump enterprises so emoluments clause won't work either.

Oh and Republicans, Never-Trumpers or not, are not going to vote for impeachment for some made up bullshit. Although Trump's base is not huge, about 30-40% of Republicans, we don't forget betrayal.

You want a real civil war? Impeach Trump on some pretext and find out how quick it goes hot.

I'm not saying it is right or justified. I'm predicting that is what will happen.

You know Ibon and I have bet $100 on this outcome? Ibon thinks Trump won't finish out his first term. People always underestimate Trump. Seventeen Republicans, Hillary Clinton, the DNC, the RNC, and the media. He beat them all.

He who laughs last laughs best. Except for beating Hillary Trump has accomplished very little and he has not grown into the job. He can't choose and vet a competent staff and they make amateur mistakes daily. Maybe he can hang on four years but I think the odds are against him.

Is Trump supposed to be a mind reader? How about Obama having the only Attorney General to be held in both civil and criminal contempt of Congress, Eric Holder? Or Lois Lerner at the IRS who decided to go after conservative PAC's, which no doubt affected the outcome of the 2012 election? Or how about vetting a Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who turned her office into a cash machine in her pay for play schemes? I haven't even got to the weaponization of the FBI to affect the outcome of the 2016 election. Something Obama certainly had knowledge of.

Seems to me every president makes bad choices in staff. VT shut off CNN or NPR for a while, or wherever you are getting this nonsense about Trump. You will rest much easier and not be as confused about the future.

vtsnowedin wrote:Probably for obstruction of justice and violations of the emoluments clause or money laundering before the campaign. Any excuse will do.

Those aren't "excuses". As much as you hate the Dems why can't you just throw Trump under the bus completely? The whole reason the Dems stand to sweep the mid-terms is because of this party-loyalty-above-all-else attitude. You live by Trump, you die by Trump.

“If and when the oil price skewers for 6 months or more substantially above the MAP, then I will concede the Etp is inherently flawed"--Onlooker, 1/1/2018

Pres. Trump's job rating now stands at 42% approve and 50% disapprove. While his net rating continues to dwell in negative territory, this is an improvement from his December low of 32% approve and 56% disapprove. The current results mark a return to the ratings he received in the late summer and early fall of 2017. Positive signs for Trump include an uptick in public opinion that he has been successful in moving his agenda through Congress and increasing support for the recently enacted tax reform plan.

In a look ahead to 2018, Democrats currently hold a negligible edge on the generic Congress ballot. If the election for House of Representatives were held today, 47% of registered voters say they would vote for or lean toward voting for the Democratic candidate in their district compared to 45% who would support the Republican. This marks a dramatic shift from last month, when Democrats held a 15 point advantage on the generic ballot (51% to 36%).

Cog wrote:....... People always underestimate Trump. Seventeen Republicans, Hillary Clinton, the DNC, the RNC, and the media. He beat them all.

Not really. He won with a minority vote and a fluke of the electoral college. But you know that, so you skipped that part. You guys want to pretend Trump had some sort of giant mandate, but 60% of the country can't stand the inept asshole. These are the facts you can't spin away. Meanwhile, we have a president who can't even staff his administration. Nobody worth their salt will work for him because he is political/professional kryptonite.

I'm a hardcore independent and have no fondness for the DNC, but the Republican party is a MINORITY party among registered voters. They know this so now they have to, as you say, give away free stuff.

Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit nothing but their Souls. - Anonymous Ghung Person

What exactly is the Democrat platform? They had an opportunity to repair ObamaCare which they themselves said was flawed, they declined. They had an opportunity to vote for tax cuts, they didn't want that either. They shut down the government over their love of illegal aliens over taking care of American citizens.

The Democrat party has self-identified as being completely out of touch with the American people. They wouldn't even clap for record low black unemployment at the SOTU. Just like Hillary's "Half the country is deplorable, beyond redemption" That is the attitude right there, that that causes you to lose elections. Go ahead run on the platform of "We hate Trump, vote for us" while I laugh.

I always lose elections. There is no one currently in elected office that I voted for, so don't blame me because the rest of you keep voting for bought-and-paid-for partisan creeps. And there is nothing at all you can say that justifies voting for Trump. Nothing at all. The man is not only a political disaster, he is everything my parents taught me not to be as a human being.

Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit nothing but their Souls. - Anonymous Ghung Person